Rocket & Balloon Experiments for University Students

The REXUS and BEXUS programmes offer opportunities for student experiments to be flown on sounding rockets and stratospheric balloons. Each flight carries a payload consisting solely of student experiments.

The REXUS / BEXUS programme is realised under a bilateral Agency Agreement between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB). The Swedish share of the payload has been made available to students from other European countries through a collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).

EuroLaunch, a cooperation between the Esrange Space Center of SSC and the Mobile Rocket Base (MORABA) of DLR, is responsible for the campaign management and operations of the launch vehicles. Experts from DLR, SSC, ZARM and ESA provide technical and logistic support to the student teams throughout the project.

REXUS is an unguided, spin-stabilised, solid-propellant, single stage rocket. The vehicle has a length of about 5.6 m and a diameter of 35.6 cm and the total available mass for student experiments is about 40 kg. Around two minutes of reduced gravity can be obtained if the rocket is despun.

The BEXUS balloon has a volume of 12,000 m³ and a diameter of 14m when filled. The total mass available for the experiments is between 40 and 100 kg. The maximum altitude is around 25 km and the flight duration is 2-5 hours.

Quick Facts

Project:

Rocket & Balloon Experiments for University Students

Level:

University

Status REXUS:

REXUS 23/24 launch campaign from the 5th to the 23rd of March 2018
REXUS 25/26 teams selected in December 2017, for launch in March 2019REXUS 27/28 Call for Proposals will open on the 11th of June 2018 for launch in March 2020

Status BEXUS:

BEXUS 24/25 launched on the 18th and 20th October 2017.
BEXUS 26/27 teams selected in December 2017 for launch in October 2018BEXUS 28/29 Call for Proposals will open on the 11th of June 2018 for launch in October 2019